Detourist privacy
Last updated 27 October 2026.
Detourist has no accounts and no ads, and does not track you across apps or websites.
What stays on your phone
Your saved places, walks, notes, stars, favourites, photos you take, badges and your pet. I never receive them. Deleting the app deletes them.
What the app sends, and why
- To plan a walk: the start and finish of your walk and the places considered go to Detourist's routing server (route.erikov.me) to work out real walking times. They aren't stored.
- To fix and rank places (you can turn this off: Menu → Helping fix places → Send): which place, whether you found it, whether it was closed, your stars and ♥, and where you tapped Done, rounded to about 5 m. These carry a random install number made on your phone, never your name, email or account. Kept for 12 months, then deleted.
- Pictures and maps: place photos load from Wikimedia Commons and, through Detourist's server, from Google (place photos and Street View). The iPhone map is Apple Maps. These services see an ordinary request from your phone, as when you open any web page.
- App data updates: the app checks the Detourist website for newer place data. Nothing about you is sent.
Location
Your location is used on the phone to start a walk from where you are and to show your dot on the map. It leaves the phone only as described above: a walk's start for walking times, and the rounded spot where you tapped Done.
Children
Detourist is not aimed at children and collects no personal details from anyone.
Contact
[email protected]. The place notes carry no name, so I can't tell which ones are yours; to stop sending them, switch off Menu → Helping fix places → Send.
Support